Ebay vs Gumtree

I have never bought or sold anything on Ebay or Gumtree but I now need to bite the bullet and sell things that we do not need anymore.
Ebay appears to be more popular than Gumtree but from what I understand Gumtree is free.
So, is it better to pay to sell on Ebay then to sell for free on Gumtree?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Clare
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Comments

  • Irn-Bru-Kid
    Irn-Bru-Kid Posts: 614 Forumite
    edited 21 September 2012 at 9:03AM
    clare64 wrote: »
    I have never bought or sold anything on Ebay or Gumtree but I now need to bite the bullet and sell things that we do not need anymore.
    Ebay appears to be more popular than Gumtree but from what I understand Gumtree is free.
    So, is it better to pay to sell on Ebay then to sell for free on Gumtree?
    Any advice would be much appreciated!
    Thanks
    Clare

    Gumtree is good for large collection only items. Your buyers will most likely be local.

    You can offer smaller items on gumtree and offer to post, but tread carefully. There is a lot of scammers on gumtree. I would avoid selling expensive electrical items, mobile phones, jewellery etc.

    You will make more money on Ebay and you will be surprised what people buy.

    Good luck
  • I tend to do Gumtree for larger items, local pick up and cash on collection.

    Ebay, smaller items that can be posted.
  • Thank you both for your replies. All the stuff will be larger,collection only,items so I think that Gumtree would be the best option
    Clare
  • You could also try Preloved too. I've managed get rid of some things I might otherwise have binned on there. Not for much, true but, hey, saved them from the bin.
    "So long and thanks for all the fish" :hello:
  • eBay and Gumtree are both owned by the same people. I've never understood what's in it for them for private sales on Gumtree unless you choose an enhanced listing, but judging by the number of Gumtree ads popping up when I visit other sites there must be something.
  • You could also try Preloved too. I've managed get rid of some things I might otherwise have binned on there. Not for much, true but, hey, saved them from the bin.

    I second Preloved too!

    Haven't managed to sell anything on Gumtree, but so far have 100% success rate with Preloved.
  • Blackjack_Davy
    Blackjack_Davy Posts: 567
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 21 September 2012 at 2:28PM
    You'll get far more interested on eBay than on Gumtree, stuff I'd had listed on Gumtree for weeks that didn't shift sold in a week on eBay and for 3x what I'd listed it for on Gumtree. In fact eBay pros seem to use Gumtree as source to sell on eBay.

    Unlike the above I wouldn't bother with Preloved they'll try and get to sign up to a pro account or otherwise find some way to slap hefty charges on you. Avoid at all costs in my experiance.
    Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the Internet.
  • In fact eBay pros seem to use Gumtree as source to sell on eBay.

    Oh, how does that work? Sorry my brain isn't working today and I can't figure it out. Do you mean they list on Gumtree that they have something listed on Ebay?

    Unlike the above I wouldn't bother with Preloved they'll try and get to sign up to a pro account or otherwise find some way to slap hefty charges on you. Avoid at all costs in my experiance.

    Pre loved have never tried to get me to sign up for premium membership - no more than Gumtree or ebay try to get me to pay for extras on listings.
    The only downside is that adverts are not immediately visible if you don't have a pro account; you have to wait a short period by which time a lot have gone. You can still list and buy things for free though.
    The only other downsides are that the categories you can list in are limited and the overall use is a lot smaller so you will get less coverage. Things generally seem to be a lot cheaper on the site though, which is good for buyers but maybe not for sellers.
    Incidentally, the pro membership costs £5 a year. If you do a lot of buying on there, it's worth it for some real bargains.

    I've managed to sell things on all three sites. Ebay is, obviously, the one with the most success and very good if you don't know what to list things at as you can put a minimum you'd like and let the bidding commence. But they take by far the biggest cut.
    "So long and thanks for all the fish" :hello:
  • I've just had a look at Preloved. Optimistic opportunists or what?! _pale_

    It seems the general idea is to try list something second-hand for more than it cost new and write how wonderful it is...

    ...so wonderful that it's for sale! :rotfl:
    "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing.
    ...If you can fake that, you've got it made."
    Groucho Marx
  • hermum
    hermum Posts: 7,123
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    It's always worth checking out local facebook selling pages as well, if you can find one in your area, ask if there's any others.
    I've had better success selling on our many pages than ebay lately.
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